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My boyfriend makes about $1200/month. He pays me $400 for bills and rent. Probably spends about 200-300 on other expenses (gas, food, etc). He has 20 grand in credit card debt.

I've been with him for over a year and we click completely. I've never felt the same about any other man in my life and I just know...he's the one. I just can't see myself marrying someone if I'm never going to be able to buy a house with him. Already I hid him from my landlord because I didn't want his credit to affect whether or not I get approved for an apartment. I don't want to have to do this for the rest of my life and I don't want to dump him over a bunch of green pieces of paper. Yeah, money is important in this world, but it's certainly not everything.

I have only 1 credit card and I never use it except to fill up my gas tank once a month to keep it active. It's for emergencies only, really. I've never had any issues with it. I don't know much about what happens when you can't pay your credit card bills. My boyfriend doesn't like to talk about it which makes me feel like he's hiding from the issue.

But after talking on several occassions, I know he's ready to figure out how to pay off his debt. We just don't really know how to go about it. Can someone give us any advice? I don't want him to start making payments and basically only be paying the interest that builds up every month. I don't know. Just looking for some advice. Thanks.

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he is hiding from the issues and is a poor choice for a life partner. hiding him from landlord will get you into unresolvable trouble. you will end up with poor financial risk reviews and become impossible to exist. you need to put the c card away and live off the means you have. pay down the minimum regularly.start looking for an additional job.

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There is no easy answer to getting rid of credit card debt when you don't have a large income and/or large assets.

In order to tackle the problem he needs to sit down with you and work out a budget. I agree that money is not the most important thing in the world. However, I believe that you should have an open and honest discussions about finances. Build your plan now. It will be hard to build a long-term relationship unless your partner shows responsibility.

I suggest that you read the Bills.com article: http://www.bills.com/how-to-pay-off-credit-cards/ . You will find 8 Tips for Paying Off Credit Cards including some advice for professional help. Here are some of the tips:
Make a Budget
Control Your Spending
Don't Make Only Minimum Payments
Use Assets You Own
Consolidate Debt
Speak with Creditors to Lower Your Rates
Find a Professional Debt Relief Alternative

The best solution will greatly depend on his credit score and long-term ability to make on-time payments. It is also very important that he stops running up new debt.

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really, it is obvious, the problem is his not yours
you may think this is the right one for you--if it weren't for this 'little' glitch
if he is not willing to take care of this matter himself and see the wisdom of getting it paid off, there is nothing you can do about it and setting your sights on this as a future is to your disadvantage
let him deal with it and if he doesn't then at some time in the future when you have had enough, get out

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lol. He needs a second job and or a better paying job, $1200 a month is barely minimum wage (if he is working full time).

If he got a tax refund this year: he should rework his W-4 so that only $40 a month is withheld for federal taxes. The rest of the extra income goes toward the cc debt.

lol - money is everything. It is the number 1 cause of divorce.

He needs to see how much his parents love him. { i e get rid of the high interest rate debt with a loan from them, and pay them back FAITHFULLY on a valid schedule. - like $400 a month for about 5 years if 6% interest }

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The first thing he should look for is some sort of interest free offer where he can put some of that debt in a place where he's not paying 18% interest. Do you realize that he needs to pay $300 EACH MONTH just to keep up on the interest? The trouble is he may not be able to do this if his credit already stinks or he has missed even one payment.

The big issue is a simple one: He doesn't make enough money. I assume he works either part time or in a low paying job. Ideally he can find a better job but he also needs to find a second job and put every penny he makes into the credit card debt. I know this is not the easy way out, but it's the only way other than something that will ruin his credit for the next 7 years. If he works an extra 20 hours per week he can make at least $450 per month more net. He does that for a few years and he is out of debt.

If he doesn't want to go the extra mile to get out of debt then you need to think twice about him as a partner. He will drag you down.

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Below are a few ideas I found on line. You can look up more ideas if you want and it would be good to see all ideas as some won't appeal to him. It looks like he could be paying $600 toward his credit card bill now.

Every extra dollar should be used to pay off his credit card(s). If he gets a raise, that extra money should go to paying down the credit card debt. He might be able to free up some money he is spending everyday now, like buying a latte from Starbuck's everyday or driving to work when he could walk. Look at ways he is spending money on nonessentials and use that money to pay down debt.

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Where you see a couple of roaches there are more,,,
he may have much more debt that you do not know about yet.
Why not together get your credit reports which are free yearly and show them to each other
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
after all, if you plan on getting married, this is a must
NEVER buy a house without getting married first

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He has to pay the minimum amount due according to the statements, and then pay even just a little more than that each month. If he looks at his statements, he will see a section that explains how much faster he can pay down the cards if he adds a little to the payment. Of course, he also needs to quit using the CCs or at least pay the minimum due PLUS whatever he has charged that month to keep the balance going down.

According to what you said, he has almost half his pay available for something. The more of that extra money he puts toward the cc debt the faster it will go away.